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New test giving teachers back-to-school jitters

Eric Weddle, Indianapolis Star
10 a.m. EDT July 28, 2014

First-grade teacher Elizabeth Polley organizes her classroom for the first day of school at Wayne Township's Stout Field Elementary School. Friday, Aug. 1, is the first day of the 2014-2015 school year for students at the school.(Photo: Charlie Nye/The Star)

When classroom doors start to swing open in Indiana this week, students' first-day jitters might be matched by teachers' concerns over a new and unfamiliar statewide standardized test.

For the third time since 2009, students face an overhauled ISTEP proficiency exam, one that will assess their mastery of Indiana's just adopted math and English benchmarks. The test also will be more interactive, possibly requiring students to highlight passages of text on a computer to show how they reach certain conclusions.

Teachers and district administrators fear the quickly crafted test could negatively impact them and their students. Student performance on the high-stakes exam helps determine whether teachers get a raise and how schools are graded on the state's A-to-F rating system.

Costs of developing the new Indiana Statewide Test for Educational Progress have been estimated at $10.5 million. It could be September or later before students can see example questions and the new format — just five months before the exam is administered to more than 400,000 students in third to eighth grades across the state.

"The frustrations are more about the uncertainty," said Thomas Hakim, an eighth grade teacher and mathematics department head at Washington Township Schools, about the exam awaiting his students. "What every teacher and every superintendent wants to know is how we are going to measure our students successfully. We start school in a week and we still don't know."

Many anticipated a revamped ISTEP tied to teacher evaluations in the 2015-16 school year. But last month, Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz said federal education officials told her the state must impose a new standardized test this spring. If not, Indiana would likely lose its waiver from the No Child Left Behind law that determines the use of some federal funding and sets benchmarks for student pass rates.

These fast-paced changes come after nearly two years of ideological and political war over education policy. It began when Ritz, a Democrat, beat out former Superintendent Tony Bennett, a Republican, in his reelection campaign.

One result has been Indiana's decision to tinker with the national Common Core academic standards initially adopted by the state but changed this spring after some conservatives objected to what they considered a federal intrusion. The new standards — and federal requirements — resulted in the need for a new test on an expedited schedule.

Some educators feel like they are caught in the middle of ongoing disputes between Ritz's Department of Education and Republican Gov. Mike Pence's Center for Education and Career Innovation. Others are just frustrated by the continuous upheaval.

John Coopman, executive director of Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, says it's unrealistic for adjustments not to be made to teacher and school ratings to account for the anticipated drop in student scores on the new test. Otherwise, educators could be unfairly impacted, he said.

"I have never heard a teacher, principal or superintendent talk about not wanting to be held accountable," Coopman said. "This is a huge implementation of new standards and a new assessment and we are doing it without a phase in. I think there has to be some preparations for school boards and communities as to what to expect from the scores. I hope there is some ability at the state level to recognize that."

Details coming

But Danielle Shockey, deputy superintendent of public instruction, said educators will soon have more details about the test. So-called exam "blueprints" are available online.

In September, an example of the test's interactive portion should be posted online for families.

This one-time ISTEP is being designed by CTB/McGraw-Hill, the company that created and implemented the ISTEP during the past four years under a $95 million contract that was extended June 30.

"The design is still CTB/McGraw-Hill. If (teachers) are comfortable with the standards transition," Shockey said. "I think they should be comfortable with the assessment's shift."

Today, teachers and others agree, the new standards are not all that different from Common Core, but educators still have to adapt to the new style of testing prompted by the so-called "college and career ready" standards that are required for any state that wants a waiver from federal No Child Left Behind requirements.

This new type of testing replaces rote memorization and requires students to grapple with complicated texts, prove answers with evidence and develop deep critical thinking skills. It's a 21st Century way of learning that some experts say will prepare children for college and career.

William Schmidt, the co-director of the education policy center at Michigan State University, said Indiana schools shouldn't face too much turmoil as they shift to the new standards. That's because Indiana's previous academic standards — English was adopted in 2006 and math in 2000 — have been ranked as some of the county's best by the the conservative Fordham Institute.

"The pre-Common Core and post-Common Core are very comparable," said Schmidt, who has analyzed the state's previous and new math standards. "I wouldn't expect this to be that difficult to transition for Indiana teachers. That of course depends on their knowledge and their background."

Area school districts say they are ready for the new standards. Judy Stegemann, Wayne Township's chief academic officer, said teachers have been trained on how to adapt to the new standards from Common Core or Indiana's previous benchmarks, and are ready to teach students.

"The depth of knowledge goes up with these new standards. Students will need to be thinking analytically, justifying their knowledge. It is more of an analysis of why something is an answer. It is increasing the rigor," she said. "The only uncertainty I have would come with the pressure of the state accountability piece — we don't know what it will look like. We are not sure our students are ready for it."

Schmidt said that uncertainty about the impact of the new test on teachers and students is understandable.

Indiana needs stability in the coming years, he said, so teachers can master the standards and gauge if students are learning. That could take three to four years to properly measure changes in student achievement.

"We keep flipping the standards around with the teachers, and it is an impossible situation for them," he said. "If you look across the country, we need that stability in standards, which other countries have."